Jerry Lee Morgan v. Michael Babcock

The opinion of the court was delivered by: Gregory G. Hollows United States Magistrate Judge

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Introduction

Petitioner, a federal prisoner proceeding pro se, has filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus, purportedly pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. By order, filed on February 27, 2012, petitioner and respondent were directed to file briefs concurrently addressing the jurisdictional basis for which this court may or may not proceed in the instant action. Respondent filed a response timely, whereas petitioner has not responded to the order and the time for doing so has long since expired. After a careful review, the court concludes that the savings clause of 28 U.S.C. § 2255 does not operate to provide a jurisdictional basis for the filing of this action under § 2241 and the court must recommend dismissal.

Petition

In the initial order, the court summarized the petition:

Petitioner sets forth that he was convicted by a jury in 1999, under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2119 and 1201, for which he "was sentenced to a term of 382 months for the kidnapping and 300 months for carjacking." Petition, p. 6.*fn1 Petitioner states that state statutes cover these crimes.*fn2 Id. Petitioner evidently bases this petition on the recent Supreme Court ruling, Bond v. United States, ___ U.S.___, 131[ S.] Ct. 2355 (2011), wherein the high court found that a petitioner had standing to challenge her indictment under a federal criminal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 229, prohibiting possession or use of a chemical weapon on grounds that the statute intruded upon powers reserved to the states in violation of the Tenth Amendment. Petitioner attempts to predicate his challenge on an individual right under the Tenth Amendment to challenge the federal statutes under which he was convicted as encroaching on state sovereignity. Id., at 6-56. Petitioner indulges in a putative disquisition on the evolution of criminal laws from pre-revolutionary colonial times and the history of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. Id. Petitioner cites United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 551, 561 n.3. ,564, 115 S. Ct. 1624 (1995), and Jones v. United States, 529 U.S. 848, 858, 120 S. Ct. 1904 (2000), as examples of the Supreme Court's resistance to "federal assumption of plenary police power in areas that traditionally and historically [have] fallen under state or local control." Id., at 47. Petitioner seeks to have his federal conviction vacated with any prosecution left to the state of Nevada (under the laws of which petitioner believes he might have been subject to "a modest sentence") or, alternatively, to have an evidentiary hearing regarding his arguments. Id., at 49, 56.

See Order, filed on Feb. 27, 2012, at 2.

Background & Response

Respondent references the "somewhat convoluted history" of this case, and it is.*fn3

Defendant Jerry Lee Morgan and his co-defendant, Billy Johnson, met the victim, Frank Klein, at a truck stop in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on a freezing December night in 1998. Defendant approached Klein and asked him to jump-start Defendant's car. Klein agreed, and Defendant left, saying that he would return with jumper cables. Because it was cold outside, Klein and Johnson waited for Defendant in Klein's car. Defendant returned, informed Klein that someone else would bring jumper cables soon, and asked if he could wait in the car with Klein and Johnson. Klein agreed. Once Defendant was inside the car, Johnson produced a large knife and held it to Klein's throat. Defendant told Klein not to do anything stupid or he would be killed.

Defendant removed a license plate from his own car and transferred his luggage from his car to Klein's. Klein was instructed to get on Interstate 80 and drive west. He did so. When Klein had driven a few miles, Defendant told him to pull over. After Klein stopped the car, Defendant and Johnson bound his wrists with duct tape and placed him in the passenger seat and, later, in the back seat. Defendant began driving. Klein heard Defendant and Johnson arguing about what they were going to do. Defendant urged that they should kill Klein.

When the car reached Salt Lake City, Utah, Defendant bound Klein with fresh duct tape and forced him into the trunk. Later, when the car stopped in Carlin, Nevada, Klein complained that he could not feel his hands and legs because of the cold and asked if he could sit in the car. When Johnson left the car to use the restroom, Defendant opened the trunk and beat Klein on the head between 40 and 50 times with a piece of metal pipe, causing him to bleed heavily. Then Defendant closed the trunk. After Johnson returned, Defendant began driving again.

Sometime later, Defendant stopped at a rest area. Again, Johnson left to use the restroom, and again Defendant opened the trunk and beat Klein on the head with a piece of metal pipe. When Johnson returned this time, Defendant pulled Klein's head back and told Johnson to cut him. Johnson made ...

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